Beaufort County is struggling to handle a growing patient population with a shortage of primary-care physicians.

Dr. Fred Teixeira, of Vidant Internal Medicine in Washington, said this kind of situation is not necessarily new to the county, as it has had these problems in the past.

This time around the shortage stems from a few factors: some general physicians have retired; the county’s population is aging, which leads to a higher demand for care; and young doctors coming out of medical school prefer to move to bigger cities, Teixeira said.

“We have a very critical shortage,” he said. “We are fighting a difficult battle.”

Yet another reason is the prospect of money, according to Teixeira. Primary-care physicians tend to make less money compared to specialized doctors, and physicians in general make more money in larger cities. Put the two trends together, and doctors are less likely to come to Washington to practice general medicine, he said.

“You really have to be devoted to do it,” Teixeira said. “I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t.”

It’s a problem faced by many smaller cities across the nation, as well.

County Manager Brian Alligood said the county commissioners discussed the situation in the Feb. 1 meeting and tried to brainstorm potential solutions.

Alligood said there were concerns about existing primary-care physicians not being able to accept any more new patients, a prospect that would force residents to go to Greenville.

If this happened, people and businesses would be less likely to come to the area, thus prompting the commissioners’ concern.

“That can be a deterrent,” Alligood said. “What other things can we do as a county to recruit and strengthen health care structure?”

“A lot of times because of the style of practice, and the reimbursement that comes with that general practice, and the demographic, the health demographic in eastern North Carolina…a lot of times it’s an older population; they have a lot more health issues,” he said. “Those reimbursements aren’t as high, and it’s a challenge to be able to establish a business.”

Teixeira said there are still doctors accepting new patients at this time, but patient lists fill up fast.

According to Teixeira, among the options are: a new doctor at Vidant Internal Medicine already has about 86 people on a waiting list but will take more after the list; Vidant Family Medicine-Washington has a nurse practitioner taking new patients, but her schedule does tend to fill up quickly; Vidant Family Medicine-Aurora is also taking new patients.

Alligood said the commissioners tried to come up with a solution to bring new primary-care physicians to the area, a solution similar to Teach For America, in which new graduates would be funded to come to underserved areas.

But he said that idea never came to fruition, as there is no stable funding to support it, especially in the private sector.

“We were trying to think of ways of doing that without a government entity,” Teixeira said. “Every person should have a primary-care provider. I believe that very strongly.”

As for the next step in fixing the problem, Teixeira said he just doesn’t know.

“Our backs are up against the wall right now,” he said.

To help combat the shortage, Penny Coltrain, administrator for regional operations at Vidant Medical Group, said residents should go ahead and get established with one of the available primary-care physicians now before illness strikes.

Being established refers to a doctor meeting a patient, reviewing all of the medical history and performing a physical assessment, according to Coltrain. She said patients who have already been to appointments with a certain doctor are considered established.

“We have opened a lot more access-to-care spots,” she said. “We encourage all individuals to kind of get assigned to a practice. … If not, then you’re steered to an urgent care or an ED (emergency department) or something like that.”

Coltrain said the Washington physicians want residents to stay in the area for care, rather than going out of the county, and that’s why Vidant is working to accommodate the demand. Primary-care physicians also offer more in-depth care.

“It’s proven that the closer to home you are to your care, the better,” said Pam Shadle, manager of marketing and public relations at Vidant Beaufort Hospital. “That’s what I encourage my friends to do, is establish care when you’re not sick.”

Alligood and Teixeira said they will both continue to brainstorm other ideas to remedy the situation, but as of now, it is all still in the talking stage.